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School, college, and university have begun for many of us, and we do not have as much time as we would like to play the gorgeous game that is Total War and its menagerie of mods. How does one choose from so many? Where can a member find previews, screenshots, and reviews by other members of the community? Look no further, for this special Back-to-School issue is going to do just that!

P.S. Who else has tried RTR VII? Look here for some special stuff soon!

Re: The Eagle Standard, Volume X Issue IV

Shogun II News

Vragos Campaign, version 1.3.1, By Vragos

Vragos introduce us to a world where you don't feel the pressure to rush all Japan in a couple of turns. His mod, named after him, is a fine example of how the game can be balanced to appease wildly different tastes with the same game.

So, what's different about this mod? Firstly, it changes the time scale of the campaign: instead of a turn per station now you have 3, so it ends up with 12 turns per year - a monthly turn scale. This alone changes the balance of the game! And precisely to make sure that the balance stays in check, Vragos adjusted everything, from construction turns to clan income and recruitment, keeping in mind realistic time lapses but never losing sight of the fun as the main goal of the mod.

One of the highlights of this mod is that it gives the heroes a greater status and bigger tactical importance by making them mounted units. As many of you might know, having a horse on feudal Japan, was a matter of status, never mind riding one into glorious battle! But this is not only a aesthetically change, since now heroes despite it's small unit size are more powerful combatants.

By the same lines, Vragos also normalized the combat stats of the mounted Samurai units, now a dismounted katana samurai will fight on equal terms with a foot one, but will definitively dominate while on horseback!

Even if the mod have not been updated lately it's stated as a work in progress, and as every modder knows, this is a never ending work of perfecting and refining!

Because of the great extent of work made by Vragos over the vanilla game, his mod (as every overhaul one) is not highly compatible with other mods, however don't feel discouraged by this, a comprehensive description of it's compatibility is found on the release post.

In short, this is a nice mod, that gives a great re-playability factor for those that already have finished the vanilla game but had not used other heavier mods yet. Grab it here while is still warm!

Mettle, Blades, and Skill (MBS), by Hazabones

Originally Posted by Hazabones

I have found that the clans (factions) in TWS2 are just too similar and it spoils the immersion of the game when the only difference between the clans is the color clothes they wear. Clans should be unique, each family was led by a Daimyo which had his own style, capabilities and ambitions which determined the type of army they fielded. There was not a single army structure and each Daimyo tested variations of army administration to see which way would help them overcome their rivals.

MBS is a ambitious mod brought to you by Hazabones which in his own words: "attempts to replicate the mobile government and bodyguard units that made up the Daimyo's “household division” which were severely overlooked in vanilla TWS2".

It's an effort to diversify the recruitment and strategy of the clans on the game by introducing new concepts on it like the Organization & Structure (OS) system and the Area of Recruitment (AOR).

Implementing this not only the unit rooster changes for every clan, but the structure of the armies available for them changes a lot by giving a dynamic importance to certain provinces depending on which clan you are playing, so not every kind of troop will be recruitable from every province.

Along with this a myriad of changes are in place or being developed by the next release, all of them pointing to include new concepts to add more deep to the game, in order to bring to life the complexity of being a Daimyo on feudal Japan.

What's more surprising is that Hazabones is working alone on this project - kudos! He is looking for help and if you have any talent that might help I invite you to contact him. This, taking into account the limited moding scoped of the game, could become the Stainless Steel of Shogun 2.

If you wanna try out or know more about this mod, you can find all the info here and here.

Quick scripted modifications, by husserlTW

This time husserlTW, the mighty Artifex, brings you the method to change several variables on our campaigns and embed the scripting into the pack. Here you will find a comprehensive guide to achieve success on:

Changing the treasury

Disabling rebellions

Unveiling the map

Removing the startpos

Lines of Battle: Shogun 2, version 2.0, By 'Gunny

From the impressive talent that is 'Gunny (with a little help from his friends) comes Version 2 of his mod, Lines of Battle: Shogun 2! In April's issue, we reviewed version 0.5. Here are the new features and changes that were made in this latest release:

Naval battles were extensively changed.

Battle AI was improved.

A blood graphic was added.

New loading screens were added.

World Map AI was improved (for example, some factions were made more or less aggressive)

Stat changes were made in order to extend the length of battles, balance units, and generally increase unit morale.

The aim of the Import Matchlocks from Trade Nodes Mod by Gallus Domesticus is to allow the use of firearm units at an earlier date. It does so by creating the Imported Matchlock resource.

More Historically Accurate than Vanilla S2!

The first matchlock weapons were brought to Japan in 1543, when a Portuguese ship was blown off course when en route to China. The ship made it's way to Tanegashima, where the firearm was first distributed, giving the weapon it's namesake. Because of their high-quality steel, smiths in the region were able to reproduce the firearm, importing it to daimyos all over the island. This mod, by making the matchlock weapon available at an earlier date, is more adherant to historical accuracy.

This modification allows clans to get Imported Matchlock Ashigaru by trading with factions with the respective resources. To do this, it implements the following changes:

The Incense resourse is replaced by the Imported Matchlock resource.

Imported Matchlock Ashigaru can be recruited from any castle. Their recruitment also requires the Imported Matchlock resource.

For those of you who absolutely despise the realm divide feature, Gallus Domesticus (he has been rather busy this issue!) brings us yet another great mod: the Realm Divide Removal Mod. This mod changes the way the realm divide feature works in two ways. Now, it only activates if you take Kyoto, meaning that realm divide no longer occurs when your clan's prestige rises too high. It also reverses negative relations caused by realm divide should you load a game in which it has already occured. Awesome!

All In a Download Matchlock Mod and Individual Downloads, by Caesar15

This mod by Caesar15changes the way matchlock units work, enhancing them in a number of ways:

Decreases reload time, making them more effective in combat

Changes firing style to a volley (ŕ la Empire: Total War)

Adds the "Blinding Grenade" ability, which allows matchlock infantry to disrupt a charging enemy, giving them a temporary melee advantage

Adds the "Rank Fire" ability, which allows consecutive, ranked fire.

Also makes some minor stat changes to matchlock units, such as range and rate of fire.

Re: The Eagle Standard, Volume X Issue IV

As most of you should now know, The Great War mod has recently released a teaser preview (found here) featuring tanks like this one:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

in Napoleon Total War. In addition they showed off a new launcher, and a complete list of all artillery models currently in game - with pictures! So, I decided to get an interview with these innovative modders. Here are some interviews I got with first the creator of the tanks and artillery, B-dizl, and the person who textured these amazing beasts and made uniforms for all the major nations in game, aanker!

Interview with B-dizl

1. Tell our readers a bit about yourself.

I'm a gamer (obviously), i love movies, i read a lot and I'm a music lover, pretty much all kinds of music (except country, the newer stuff anyway). I work in tech support so I'm online literally all day, hence my large post count.

2. How did you get into modding? What exactly do you do?

I started my modding career with the original WW1:TW mod back in 2009. I did several tank models as that was my main point of interest in WW1 at the time. After that mod failed to get off the ground i kind of lost interest in modding and took a break from modeling as well.

3. How did you get involved in The Great War mod?

This was kind of a happy coincidence, i got laid off from my job in april 2010 and looking for something to pass the time while i looked for a new job, i found the then brand new TGW mod and still wanting to make a WW1 version of a TW game i posted several of my models from the WW1:TW mod. Needless to say they offered me a spot on the team.

4. About how long does it take you to make one model?

It really depends on the model and how much free time i have at one time. For a small model like a rifle or helmet it only takes 1-3 hours including UV mapping, tanks take more time but the most time consuming is the artillery models, they can take 7-8 hours especially to do the UV map.

5. And how many models have you created for The Great War mod?

Probably around 40 or so.

6. Right, enough intro questions, I think we can get to the good stuff now. So tanks. How did you get them in? How do they work? Tell us everything!

Well it was always possible to just get the model in game using pretty much anything like an artillery peice etc but to get it to function was another thing entirely. It was Aanker who made the breakthrough to get it to work so i dont really have the details on that but i can tell you there are more tanks than the one we showed and they do function, they drive, they shoot and the AI is able to use them.

7. What other types of models have you put in-game?

So far tanks, artillery, mortars, machine guns, and something else we will be showing soon.

8. Anything else you want to mention?

If you really like WW1 and fantasy books check out the Leviathon series by Scott Westerfeld, they are very entertaining and fully illustrated!

Interview with aanker

1. Tell us a bit about yourself.

I'm an 18-year old Swede studying my last year at what would be equivalent to upper high school or lower college in the United States, aiming eventually for a Master's degree in geology.

I like to play games, I do read a lot, I watch movies, draw digital art, prepare for exams... All in all, I like to keep things varied. That's probably why I ended up on TWC.

2. So how did you get into modding? What do you do? Most importantly, how did you get involved in TGW?

Having gotten Empire: Total War and explored its contents, I spent some time just tweaking around the values of units in the game for personal enjoyment, but then felt that I wanted to contribute to the larger community in some way. Armed with knowledge on how to edit basic unit stats, I offered the Great War mod help with giving proper stats to their ships.

At the time, the Great War mod had really just kicked off for real, with lots of traffic going on in the mod thread. This meant that the project was expanding rapidly and in need of modders, and all of the sudden, I was on the team. From there on, my work has been largely varied and I haven't really had an area role up until the release of 4.5: I added flamethrowers, submachinegunners, artillery observers and the infamous Patriotic Levy to the field of units offered, but I also created some minor artwork and edited the campaign UI.

After the release of 4.5, the long-term goal of the mod would be the 5.0 release. Since the bar was set relatively high - new uniforms, unit systems, scales, a better startpos, helmets, weapons, tanks, artillery, etc. - the team naturally had to split up the roles to fit the work load. I was given the task of texturing BDIZZLE's models, and making new uniforms based on the models provided by the game. That is what I'm still doing to this day - texturing. I'm also slightly involved in unit creation and general feature implementation, but only to a limited extent.

4. About how long does it take you to make one texture or uniform?

This question is really hard for me to answer. My workflow is a bit abnormal in the sense that I prefer to make many different minor edits across several different projects simultaneously, so it's quite difficult to give a good estimate on the time consumption here. If I sat down and worked on something for a single period of time, I'd perhaps average an hour or two on a radically modified uniform or new texture, less so on minor things such as hats and helmets. But I'd probably come back later anyway and try to polish something even more.

5. And how many uniforms and textures have you created for The Great War mod?

I suppose that I've made (radically edited) about six uniform torso parts (coats, shirts, and so forth), two or three leg parts (puttees for instance), and then nine artillery textures (tanks included?), and, lastly, a mauser rifle.

This might not seem like a lot, but considering the fact that the atlas files (where all uniform part textures are stored in a single, huge, texture sheet) are cumbersomely large (of course this is outweighed by the practicality of having variants and so forth), and that all texture files come in several variations, it takes time to properly put together all the textures necessary - in a satisficial way - for the mod. Furthermore, this time has to be fit into the real world as well, with schoolwork, other interests, etc.

Development is still ongoing, though, so expect more textures (and models, of course) in the final release!

6. Right, enough intro questions, I think we can get to the good stuff now. So tanks. How did you get them in, how do they work, what you did on them, tell us everything you can.

Tanks will function largely like artillery. They will have a (killable) crew, and they will be mobile, of course. As of current, they will not be able to fire while moving, but remember that historically, World War I tanks had no way of aiming and therefore hitting anything while on the move. The fact that we have designed them as artillery also allows for a few interesting scenarios: infantry can actually immobilise the tanks by storming them (though this is not recommended), simulating the sticky bombs used against tracks and cogs, and tanks can either be left crewless on the field like empty metal husks or, of course, be torn to shreds by artillery.

And no, they will not require limbering/unlimbering. The technique behind the tanks was actually discovered by chance several months back, during the initial design of the American army roster: artillery that moved without carriages! This was probably not a true discovery in the sense that we were the first to see the "bug", if you will, but it was definitely a great opportunity to, in classical modding style, find a feature of the game and turn it into something useful.

Tanks will be divided into light, male and female tanks. Light tanks will be fast enough to redeploy quite quickly and take on routing units by machinegunning them down, or to make a swift flanking maneuver, flinging in lead right where it hurts. Male tanks will be specialized in artillery: rather than rely on machineguns, male tanks use cannons to counter buildings and - if necessary - other tanks. Male tanks are most useful against an enemy residing in buildings, where they are largely protected from machinegun fire, and less useful against large formations of attacking infantry, where their considerably lower rate of fire allows the enemy to come sufficiently close to disable them. Female tanks are the proper anti-infantry tanks, deploying many machineguns and therefore offering the commander a quick way to dispose of enemy personnel. While a light machinegun might suffice to hold the crest of a newly taken hill, you will surely need female tanks if you wish to protect your own men from hails of in the open.

In the end, the weapons that will work best against tanks will be anti-tank rifles and artillery. Rifle and machinegun ammunition will only cause minor damage over very extended periods of time (as metal flakes are thrown about inside the crew compartment when projectiles hit the armour). Male tanks will be able to ward off assaults by enemy female tanks, but while stationary in defending positions, they are also very welcome targets for the artillery.

All in all, the tanks are going to be one of our most prestigeous features in the 5.0 release. We aim to make them as playable and authentic as possible, and as a result, most of what you have read above is still work-in-progress where some parts might be liable to change. Tanks will be in 5.0, no matter the design decisions, though.

7. What other things have you put put in-game (uniforms, other textures)?

We're still working on some things we want to put in to fill out the currently fielded models. With the addition of Volcol, another skilled modeller with experience in the World War I area, so many possibilities are opened up that we just can't find all the factual 5.0 release features from the previously speculative "maybe":s.

* New artillery models (check the 5.0 teaser preview, some more might still be in development)

* Tanks (male, female, light, for all nations that had the ability to construct tanks)

* Airplanes (spies are turned into aviators)

* Campaign models (trains, ships, characters etc.)

* New startpos system (more on this later)

There are also a couple of definite maybe:s, but these will not be released yet, since we wouldn't want to get our fans hyped up about a feature and then not release it because it wasn't fully functional or possible.

8. Anything else you want to mention?

I'd like to thank the guys over at the ES for the great honour of being featured!

Furthermore, I'd also like to thank all our fans, modding friends and players from around the forums for their long and zealous support for the Great War mod - without you, the tanks, models, uniform parts and countless work hours put into this behemoth of a project would never have gone this far. It's quite amazing to stand here today and look back at the roots of the mod, in those early glorious days of N:TW modding, in the era of releases 3.6 and 4.2... And then turn around and see where we are today, with the team clearly being on course for 5.0. All thanks to you.

I don't have a release date, but I have this one promise: 5.0 will be the first, definite release of the Great War mod.

Recently, several prominent NTW modders have been working closely with a plugin developer, and as a result a new tool has been developed, a model converter. It offers full conversion for all NTW models, meaning new character models, or new unit parts can now be implemented, unlocking many new possibilities for NTW modding! To read more specifics about the model converter, or to try it out, head on over to this thread: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=459454

One of the most common criticisms of the Total War series has always been the AI. Particularly in the later game NTW where people have complained that the AI doesn’t make the game challenging or does ridiculous manoeuvrings in battles such as placing cannons behind their own troops and opening fire. Veteran modder ToonTotalWar has decided to rectify this by releasing his Napoleon Total War AI mod. This mod aims to improve the AI for both battles and campaigns. Various other tweaks were made to the game play of battles in order to help the AI such as grenades are now disabled, tighter formations and the musket ranges have been have been changed slightly. Along with these changes in the battles the campaign has also been looked at with the building recruitment costs reduced and the technology research time decreased. These tweaks benefit the AI and provide you with some longer battles! Those of you who have played the All in One mod also created by ToonTotalWar may recognize some of these changes. After a brief play time with the mod I noticed more flanking in battles, I really had to keep an eye on my flanks to keep them safe, and in the campaign I thought the AI to be more aggressive than usual, I found they built up there forces quicker, particularly France. If you want to download this mod or learn more about it then I suggest you visit the download thread here

E.K

Island of Elba

The Island of Elba mod gives you the opportunity to take the role of Napoleon following his defeat in 1814 and his exile to the island of Elba where you must take command of your limited resources and use them to make a triumphant return to France, dethroning the old Bourbon Monarchy reinstated by the English.

You begin with Napoleon on the Island of Elba with a bucket load of cash and not much else, you must spend this wisely has you strive to retake France and it's empire and crush Britain and her allies to cement your hold on power.

Ever gotten tired of that dull old brown and black hair sported by your men of the line who are otherwise outfitted in splendid, inspiring and colorful uniforms, well look no further than Wig Mod by Lord Sith for Empire Total war. This splendorous mod replaces the common brown hair of your soldiers with spiffing, immaculate white wig, completing their ensemble and allowing them to march into battle equipped with all the latest fads of 18th century European fashion.

Tired of boring unit models? Want some sort of evolution of the way your men look as they conquer the world? Introducing the Tricorn to Helmet mod from ⚓ Flikitos ⚓.

His mod not only gives new uniforms to several of the faction's Line Infantry, but soon it will include a system of change to those models as the campaign goes on, so men of the 1800's won't look as drab and disorderly as those of the early 1700's.

Although mainly focusing on the units of Revolutionary France, Flikitos has promised much more content in the near future.

In the end, we tip our hats (or helmets) and eagerly await to see what more this mod can offer.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

The Super Mod

The SUPER ModIntroducing The Super Mod from Fonsy. Fonsy's Super Mod is mostly little changes to miscellaneous pieces of the campaign map and the battlefield; but don't be fooled, these changes combine to create a very interesting game that you won't forget. Whether you're a die hard fan who can't pull yourself away from Empire, or you would just like to try out some new things, The Super Mod is a definite candidate for your enjoyment.

Ludos Scotland Mod Fixed

Ludos Scotland mod for Empire Total war has received an apparently fan made update making it compatible with post 1.3 versions of the game.

The Product of blazeftp, this update enables you to experience the breeze through your kilt once more as you create grand old bonnie Scottish empire. It sets you up in the year 1700 with James II as your king and a world ripe for conquering, all to the beautiful sound of bagpipes. Here are a few wee screenshots to show off the mods Ludo and blazeftps handy-work.

Archimod is a mod created for ETW by veteran total war player Archimonday. The mod contains a load of personal game play tweaks, such as the accuracy of the muskets or the tweaking of the AI and much more. All of these little tweaks have been designed through hours of play to give you a more balanced, difficult game where you need to focus on your economy and be more diplomatic.

Alongside a plethora of smaller tweaks Archimod has also overhauled the armies and units. These changes reflect how armies should have been comprised at the time, for example the AI will recruit more infantry which makes up the core of the army, while it will recruit less cavalry because they are now only a supporting role. Units are divided into categories and their stats are adjusted to suit what category there in. As units become more skilled and gain more experience they can take on trait of units that are in the category above them. For example, a unit of Grenadiers could become just as good as an elite unit.

Archimod also features lots of campaign changes as well as two new campaigns, the first being a late campaign starting in 1783 will all factions playable aswell as an early campaign starting in 1700 with similar modifications to the late campaign. Some of the campaign tweaks including the new 12 turn per year system which is six times what it was in vanilla. This change lets you experience more depth, that you couldn’t get in in vanilla. Changes have been made to the AI so that nations such as the Maratha Confederacy don’t meet the Cherokee, this system was put in place to avoid the ridiculous fictional conflicts that could happen.

Archimod features three different versions you can choose to download, they are: Archimod Full which is the full mod with all the additions. The second is Archimod Lite + campaigns which is a cut down version of the mod plus all the campaign additions. Thirdly, Archimod Lite is a cut down versionof the mod with no campaign additions or units overhauls.

If you want to learn more about this mod I suggest you visit the official thread here.

Re: The Eagle Standard, Volume X Issue IV

Medieval II and Kingdoms News

War of the West - First Major Preview by Ancient Aliens

War of the West - First Major Preview

This is the first major update of the War of the West (WotW), a mod that is clearly destined for greatness, by St. Polycarpe! In this update, Poly enumerates several changes that he intends to make to several features of the game. Before we get into this, though, let's overview what exactly the mod is.

The War of the West is a mod that focuses entirely on Western Europe, in much the same way that the Britannia Campaign focuses solely on England. This mod is intended to give a better Medieval European experience than did the original campaign. It focuses on the mid 13th to the late 16th centuries, providing a condensed perspective of the turbulent nature of both the politics and the military technology of this period. Players will see the shift from feudal to national armies, changing armor and weapons, and the advent of gunpowder. The War of the West will even change the recruitment, military, character, and administrative systems of the original game.

This is an ES exclusive! Thanks to St. Polycarpe, I have been shown some of the prospective unit rosters! Without further ado, here it is:

An exclusive first look at some of WotW's unit rosters

The English Unit Roster

England Unit Roster (From 1245-1385)

Strength: Strong professional armies and formidable archers. Weakness: Poor relations with her neighbours and is late in the development of new weapon technology.

King's Yeomen Category: Sergeants-at-Arms Unit Description (Small): The King's Yeomen protect the important figures of England. They are fine warriors whose task is to defend and follow their lord wherever he goes.Unit Description (Large): The King's Yeomen are the bodyguards of important royal and noble English figures. Loyal until death, these men proudly wear the royal coat of arms and are heavily equipped. These men are also mounted on heavy war horses, enabling them to protect their lord from any threats and repel any attackers.

Household Knights Category: Household NoblesUnit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Household knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who have come from the aristocracy of England. Heavily armoured, these knights lead their men and their cavalry against the enemy.Unit description (Large): Household knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who have come from the aristocracy of England. Each knight has made a vow of servitude to their lord or to their sovereign and has become a vassal of this lord. These knights formed the core of heavy cavalry in most European kingdoms until military reforms that created national standing armies were made in the late Middle Ages. They have access to the best and latest equipment for their era. Their main role is to charge through enemy ranks.

Household Knights (Foot)Category: Household NoblesUnit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Household knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who come from the aristocracy of England. When commanded, they will dismount and fight on foot.Unit description (Large): Household knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who have come from the aristocracy of England. Each knight has made a vow of servitude to their lord or to their sovereign and has become a vassal of this lord. These knights formed the core of heavy cavalry in most European kingdoms until military reforms that created national standing armies were made in the late Middle Ages. They have access to the best and latest equipment for their era. Their main role is to charge through enemy ranks. When commanded or if the situation arises, the knight will dismount and fight on foot.

Yeomen of the Chamber Category: Sergeants (Guards. Hybrid) Unit Quality: Outstanding. Unit Description (Small): The Yeomen of the Chamber are the best archers in the Kingdom of England. They are excellent hybrid longbowmen and infantry whose professionalism is incomparable. Unit Description (Large): The Yeomen of the Chamber is a small professional guard retinue formed by King Edward III in 1327 at the beginning of his reign. The king selected and regrouped the best archers in his kingdom. Several of them came from south western Wales which was under England's reign. Constantly trained in archery and also in melee combat, these guards wore the liveries of their king and were equipped with a halberd and a longbow. This unit was preserved by the Tudor dynasty, which expanded the retinue in number and renamed the unit “Yeomen of the Guard” in 1485.

Yeomen Archers Category: Sergeants (Archers) Unit Quality: Superior. Unit Description (Small): The Yeoman Archers are professional longbowmen whose skills with the bow are feared across all Europe. Unit Description (Large): Drawn from English freeholders and required by the king to be trained in warfare with the application of the Archery Law in 1272, Yeoman Archers are highly skilled ranged troops. Lightly armoured and equipped with a longbow for ranged combat. Yeomen Archers are able to lay defensive wooden stakes to help keep enemies at bay.

Yeomen of the Crown Category: Sergeants (infantry) Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): Yeomen of the Crown are professional low noble sergeants who act as heavy infantry. Unit Description (Large): Drawn from English freeholders and required by the king to be trained in warfare, Yeomen of the Crown are disciplined sergeants with great fighting skills. The term "Crown" comes to the fact that these yeomen were allowed to sit at the king's table and be able to enter in the royal court.

Yeomen Billmen Category: Sergeants (infantry) Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): Yeomen Billmen are professional low noble sergeants who are excellent users of the bill hook. Unit Description (Large): Drawn from English freeholders and required by the king to be trained in warfare, Yeomen Billmen are disciplined sergeants with great fighting skills. Considering the English love for the bill hook, these yeomen wouldn't lose the opportunity to train with such a versatile and effective weapon.

Men-at-Arms Category: Sergeants (heavy cavalry) Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): Men-at-Arms are heavy cavalry, suited as knights but slightly less armoured. Their main tactic is to charge in the enemy's formation after the English archers have shot several volleys. Unit Description (Large): Coming from minor landowners and nobility, Men-at-Arms are trained cavalrymen. Equipped as a knight but in lesser quality, this retinue of cavalry is often used in conjunction with longbowmen. King Edward II used his archers to soften the enemy from afar and his Men-at-Arms to finish the disjointed formation. This proved to be a remarkably effective tactic.

Billmen Category: Urban Militia (Medium Infantry) Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): The Billmen are trained militia who use the bill hook, a polearm weapon that became England's national weapon. Unit Description (Large): The Billmen are trained infantry who use the bill hook. This weapon, derived from a farm tool, is very versatile in that it can hook, pierce and slash. Englishmen preferred using the bill to counter heavy cavalry as it could penetrate heavy armor, skewer a horse, and pull a man off his horse.

Longbowmen Category: Urban Militia (Archers) Unit Quality: Superior. Unit Description (Small): English Longbowmen are excellent users of the longbow and provide excellent defense against invaders. Unit Description (Large): Longbowmen are militia archers who are proficient with the longbow. The English Archery Law of the 13th century ensured that English men would become experts in the use of the bow. In 1252 the “Assize of Arms” ensured that all Englishmen between the ages of 15 to 60 years old were ordered, by law, to equip themselves with a bow. The Plantagenet King Edward III took this further and decreed the Archery Law in 1363 which commanded the obligatory practice of archery on Sundays and holidays.

HobilarsCategory: Urban Militia (Light Cavalry)Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Hobilars are light cavalry used for skirmish charges and chasing down light infantry.Unit Description (Large): It is thought the term 'Hobilars' comes from the Norman name 'hobby' for the small horses that Gaelic troops rode in Scotland and Ireland. In medieval warfare Hobilars were the lighter cavalry who supported the knights. They shouldn't be relied on to engage in a prolonged melee, but can be valuable for chasing down fleeing enemies.

Levy Spearmen Category: Feudal Levies (Spearmen) Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): Enlisted during a "Call-to-Arms", Levy Spearmen are used in emergencies to defend settlements. Unit Description (Large): Feudal levies are units conscripted to take up arms for a military campaign or for defending settlements. Often summoned in an emergency, levies aren’t reliable; they aren't trained for warfare and see little combat experience as they are disbanded during the harvest season.

Levy LongbowmenCategory: Feudal Levies Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): Enlisted during a "Call-to-Arms", Levy Archers are used in emergencies to defend settlements. Unit Description (Large): Feudal levies are units conscripted to take up arms for a military campaign or for defending settlements. Often summoned in an emergency, levies aren’t reliable; they aren't trained for warfare and see little combat experience as they are disbanded during the harvest season. Still, they can provide decent ranged power due to several imposed English archery laws.

King's ManrentCategory: Sergeants-at-Arms Unit Description (Small): The King's Manrent protect the important figures of Scotland. They are fine warriors whose task is to defend and follow their lord wherever he goes. Unit Description (Large): The King's Manrent are the bodyguards of important royal and noble Scottish figures. Loyal until death, these men proudly wear the royal coat of arms and are heavily equipped. These men are also mounted on heavy war horses, enabling them to protect their lord from any threats and repel any attackers.

Lowland Knights Category: Household NoblesUnit Quality: Inferior.Unit Description (Small): Lowland knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who have come from the aristocracy of Lowland Scotland. Heavily armoured, these knights lead their men and their cavalry against the enemy.Unit description (Large): Lowland knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who have come from the aristocracy of Scotland. Each knight has made a vow of servitude to their lord or to their sovereign and has become a vassal of this lord. These knights formed the core of heavy cavalry in most European kingdoms until military reforms that created national standing armies were made in the late Middle Ages. They have access to the best and latest equipment for their era. Their main role is to charge through enemy ranks. Feudalism is relatively new to Scotland, being recently influenced by the Normans and by France. While Lowland Scotland adopted feudalism, King David’s attempts to bring feudalism to the Highlands ultimately proved fruitless. However, as time wore on, feudalism grew in strength in Scotland, and her knights would eventually be comparable to those of England.

Lowland Knights (Foot)Category: Household NoblesUnit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Lowland knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who have come from the aristocracy of Lowland Scotland. When commanded, they will dismount and fight on foot.Unit description (Large): Lowland knights are members of the warrior class in the European Middle Ages who have come from the aristocracy of Scotland. Each knight has made a vow of servitude to their lord or to their sovereign and has become a vassal of this lord. These knights formed the core of heavy cavalry in most European kingdoms until military reforms that created national standing armies were made in the late Middle Ages. They have access to the best and latest equipment for their era. Their main role is to charge through enemy ranks. Feudalism is relatively new to Scotland, being recently influenced by the Normans and by France. While Lowland Scotland adopted feudalism, King David’s attempts to bring feudalism to the Highlands ultimately proved fruitless. However, as time wore on, feudalism grew in strength in Scotland, and her knights would eventually be comparable to those of England. When commanded or if the situation arises, the knight will dismount and fight on foot.

RuireachCategory: Household NoblesUnit Quality: Outstanding.Unit Description (Small): Ruireach are the clan chieftains of the Scottish Highlands. Fearless warriors, these men are the knightly equivalent in Gaelic Scotland. Unit description (Large): The Ruireach, which means "champions", are the clan chieftains of the Scottish Highlands. These men are equivalent in rank to lowland knights, and are the vassals to clan chieftains and to the sovereign of Scotland. With Celtic, Gaelic and Norse blood flowing through their veins, they are natural warriors with impressive combat skills. Using their legendary claymores, the Ruireach will lead their fellow Highlanders into battle and hack through their enemies’ formations.

Manrent BondsmenCategory: Sergeants Unit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Manrent Bondsmen are men who form a vow of loyalty to a clan chieftain or to the sovereign. Heavily armoured and equipped with the lochaber axe, these men formed the professional retinues of Scotland. Unit Description (Large): The Bond of Manrent was a common accord in which a weaker man or clan pledged an oath of servitude (often made in the form of a covenant) to a stronger clan – in effect becoming vassals. Manrents were promises by one person to serve another, such that he shall be friend to all his friends, and foe to all his foes. Some Bonds of Manrent, described as Bonds of Friendship, took place between men or clans of equal power, worded in the form of treaties of offensive and defensive allegiance. These contracting parties bound themselves to assist each other. Manrents always acknowledged and prioritized the signatory's duty of allegiance to the King, in terms such as: "always accepting duty to our lord the king.” In the same manner, when men who were not chiefs of clans, but of subordinate tribes thus bound themselves, their fidelity to their chiefs was always expected, in terms such as “always accepting duty to our kindred and friends”. Smaller clans, unable to defend themselves, and clans or families who had lost their chiefs, frequently entered into Manrent. Under such treaties, smaller clans identified themselves with the greater clans. They engaged in the quarrels, followed the fortunes, and fought under the greater chiefs of these clans. However, their ranks were separately marshalled, and were led by their own subordinate chiefs, chieftains, lairds,or captains, who owed submission only when necessary, for the success of combined operations. Although Manrents often used terms such as, "our successors", "perpetually" and "in all time coming", their object was usually defense, aggression, or revenge, and rarely extended further than the occasion for which they were formed.

Men-at-ArmCategory: Sergeants Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Men-at-Arms are heavy cavalry, suited as knights but slightly less armoured. Their main tactic is to outflank and charge into the enemy's formation. Men-at-Arms came later in Scotland, but were comparable to their English counterparts.Unit Description (Large): Coming from minor landowners and nobility, Men-at-Arms are trained cavalrymen. Minor nobles, squires and bondsmen formed the Scottish Men-at-Arms. Equipped as a low quality knight, these men can still provide an excellent offense against the enemy. Scotland took a long time to adapt to feudalism, but, thanks to it’s proximity to England and it’s diplomatic relations with France, Scotland was finally able to produce comparable Men-at-Arms, thought the quality of their armour was lesser than that of England, due to Scotland’s relative poverty.

Manrent LongbowmenCategory: Sergeants Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Manrent Longbowmen are professional Scottish archers who are proficient in the usage of the longbow.Unit Description (Large): Formed in the 14th century, Manrent Longbowmen are men trained in the usage of the longbow. Realising the devastating power of English archers, Scotland emulated their neighbour and created professional retinues of longbowmen. Not as experienced or as numerous as their neighbour, they are still very well trained and are some of the best archers in Europe. The very best of these men formed the Scots Guards, an archery-based bodyguard that protected the King of France.

Border RieversCategory: RegularsUnit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Border Rievers are raiders that are among the best light cavalry in Europe and are often used as mercenaries fighting on the side of both the English and the Scottish.Unit Description (Large):Border Rievers were raiders along the Anglo–Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. Their ranks consisted of both Scottish and English families, and they raided the entire border country without regard for their victims' nationality. Their heyday was in the last hundred years of their existence, during the time of the Stuart Kings in Scotland and the Tudor Dynasty in England.

Scots SpearmenCategory: Urban Militia.Unit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Scots Spearmen are disciplined soldiers who are experts with the use of the longer schiltron spear. The Scots Spearmen can form a phalanx like formation to hold the line.Unit Description (Large): At the end of the 13th century, Robert the Bruce created a highly trained unit of pikemen. These men were well trained, better equipped than their lesser counterparts, and were able to wield 15 foot pikes. While the schiltron formation proved to be a very effective in the countering of enemy cavalry, these militiamen fought in a phalanx like formation instead.

Archer MilitiaCategory: Urban Militia.Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Archer Militia are peasants trained in archery who were called up to defend settlements.Unit Description (Large): Archer Militia are bow-equipped peasants called upon to provide ranged support for a settlement in need of a garrison of missile troops. Better trained than levies, these troops are still inexperienced, and as such, are expected to shoot at an enemy from the safety of their own walls.

CinneadhCategory: Warrior LeviesUnit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Cinneadh are fierce Highland warriors.Unit Description (Large): Cinneadh (or Highlanders) are levied warriors from the Scottish Highlands. These men haven't been influenced by the Normans to the degree that the man of the Lowlands have, and still follow the Gaelic and Celtic traditions of fighting as fast, lightly armoured infantry. Ill disciplined and fighting in a near berserker trance, the Cinneadh are fierce warriors against whom only the bravest of soldiers are able to stand their ground.

Cinneadh BoghadairCategory: Warrior LeviesUnit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Cinneadh Boghadairs are archers of Highlands. These men are very skilled in skirmish tactics and close ranged attacks.Unit Description (Large): Cinneadh (or Highlanders) are levied warriors from the Scottish Highlands. These men haven't been influenced by the Normans to the degree that the man of the Lowlands have, and still follow the Gaelic and Celtic traditions of fighting as fast, lightly armoured infantry. "Boghadair" means "archer" in Scottish Gaelic. These warriors favour ambushes and are very skilled in the usage of their hunting bows.

Schiltron SpearmenCategory: Feudal Levies (Spearmen) Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): Enlisted during a "Call-to-Arms", Schiltron Spearmen are used in emergencies to defend settlements. Unit Description (Large): Scottish armies of the Late Medieval Era depended on a combination of familial, communal and feudalforms of service. "Scottish service" (servitum Scoticanum), also known as "common service" (communis exertcitus), demanded the levy of all able-bodied freemen between the ages of 16 and 60. These men provided the bulk of the Scottish armed forces, with (according to decrees) 8-days warning. Feudal obligations, by which knights held castles and estates in exchange for service, provided troops on a 40 day basis. These levies were equipped with the schiltron spear, a 12 foot long weapon that was used to counter England's cavalrymen.

Levy ArchersCategory: Feudal Levies Unit Quality: Standard. Unit Description (Small): Enlisted during a "Call-to-Arms", Levy Archers are used in emergencies to defend settlements. Unit Description (Large): Feudal levies are units conscripted to take up arms for a military campaign or for defending settlements. Often summoned in an emergency, levies aren’t reliable; they aren't trained for warfare and see little combat experience as they are disbanded during the harvest season.

The Irish Unit Roster

Ireland Unit Roster (From 1245-1385)

Strength: Good skirmishers and sturdy horsemen. Excellent use of javelins.Weakness: Poor armour and archers.

The Irish are, at heart, a truly unconquerable people. And though King Henry of England landed an army over half a century ago promising to conquer the isle, his “invasion” proved to be nothing more than a tour of the landscape. While he settled Norman nobles where he could and obtained fealty from the Irish kingdoms, he only managed to secure the loyalty of a handful of cities. The Norman nobility and the Irish people were played off each other, further diluting the true power of the English crown on the Emerald Isle. And now, with the Earl of Ulster Hugh de Lacy dead, the ever rebellious north has both an excuse and a perfect opportunity to reclaim the entirety of Ireland from the Norman invaders.

The Normans are most certainly not the first foreigners to attempt to rule Ireland. The Vikings, who began to raid as far back as the early 9th century, finally began to establish permanent trading posts such as Dublin and Limerick around 914. Without military mobility or the unity of a distinctively Viking force, the territories established around these trading posts could do little to penetrate beyond the coastlines of Ireland to subjugate the Irish people, though raids, counter-raids, and petty squabbles did manage to divide the isle into scores of individual enclaves. Not until the turn of the century, around the year 1000, did Ireland finally see one man rise above all the rest, the legendary High King Brian Boru. After deposing the Ua Neill dynasty which had previously held the title, he fought the northern Ua Neill, Leinster, and the town of Dublin for control of Northern Ireland. In 1014 at the plains of Clontarf, Boru engaged his enemies, including additional Viking allies from the Isle of Man. In the famously bloody battle, he managed to beat back the Vikings, though he himself was killed during the fighting. Following his death, though the Viking incursions were broken, no man could once again emerge as a true High King. Ireland once again fell into nearly two centuries of chaos and turmoil leading up to the Norman Invasion.

Following in the footsteps of greatness, Brian O’Neill, King of Tyrone, is just the sort of man who could once again unite Ireland. In addition to his personal domain, his clan also controls the Kingdom of Thomond to the south, and is in an excellent position to overrun Norman Ulster and from there drive the rest of Normans back across the sea from whence they came. His army strengthened by new styles of warfare that was brought to it by both the English and the Vikings before them, the King of Tyrone might actually have a force that can stand up to the might of the English army and their feared Welsh Longbowmen. In particular, the addition of light cavalry to Irish armies will prove to be invaluable in skirmishing against the much more heavily armoured English forces. Such is the style of Irish warfare; harassment and mobility are without question the tactics of the day, in addition to the widespread use of mercenaries such as the famed Gallóglaigh.

The road to glory is certainly not an easy one, as the English resistance will undoubtedly prove resolute; however, if the English can indeed be pushed aside and O’Neill once again unite the Irish kingdoms, his forces could prove to be formidable invaders of English soil.

Lught TigheCategory: Sergeants-at-Arms Unit Description (Small): The Lught Tighe are the followers of important figures of Ireland. They are the finest, hand-picked soldiers, whose task is to protect and follow their lord wherever he goes.Unit Description (Large): The bodyguard of Irish lords, the Lught Tighe are chosen for their skills and loyalty to serve and protect their lord. Due to the terrain of Ireland, cavalry charges were generally impractical, a fact that the Norman Invaders quickly became aware of. The Lught Tighe ride small sturdy Irish horses, don’t use bards nor addles, and ride in the traditional Gaelic fashion.

RitireCategory: Household Nobles.Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Ritire are the equivalent of knights in Ireland. Equipped with a couple of javelins and wearing mail or scale armour, the Ritire are excellent hybrid skirmisher and melee cavalry.Unit Description (Large): "Ritire" or "Ridire" is a title in Ireland that is equivalent to the word "knight". The origin of the name is obscure, but it may have come from the Norman invasion during the Dark Ages. Riding unbarded mounts, the Ritire carry several javelins, a round shield and a one-handed weapon. Their main tactic is to skirmish around heavy units, throwing them javelins and then charging into the disjointed formation.

Ritire (Foot)Category: Household Nobles.Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Ritire are the equivalent of knights in Ireland. When dismounted, the Ritire fight alongside the Kerns and act as heavy infantry.Unit Description (Large): ""Ritire" or "Ridire" is a title in Ireland that is equivalent to the word "knight". The origin of the name is obscure, but it may have come from the Norman invasion during the Dark Ages. When the situation arises, the Ritire will dismount and fight alongside the Kern, acting as heavy infantry. When they engage, the Ritire will throw their javelins prior to entering the fray.

Gallóglaigh Category: Sergeants Unit Quality: Outstanding.Unit Description (Small): Gallóglaigh are foreign Hebridean mercenaries warriors who settled in Ireland, eventually forming the heavy infantry backbone of the Irish army.Unit Description (Large): Gallóglaigh were foreign mercenary warriors who descended from the Western Highlands and Hebridean Isles. Several accounts say that the Gallóglaigh first appeared in Ireland in 1253, when the Lord of the Isles gave a "Sparr" retinue of Gallóglaigh to the Ulster Lord as a gift. At first they were few, but eventually, the Gallóglaigh became part of Ireland itself, receiving titles and even holding land. Although the Gallóglaigh were originally foreigners, several native Irishmen became Gallóglaigh. They were famous for their skills with the "Sparr" (a 6 foot two-handed axe), the bow, and later, the Claymore sword. The Gallóglaigh are without a doubt the strongest Gaelic warriors of Ireland.

Horseboys Category: Sergeants Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Horseboys are Irish squires who act as skirmisher cavalry. Unit Description (Large): Horseboys are Irish warriors equivalent in rank to squires, who follow either the Ritire or the Gallóglaigh into battle. Riding in the typical Irish fashion, the Horseboys are lightly armoured cavalrymen who specialize in wielding the javelin. They are experts at softening the enemy formation.

Hobigůir Category: Regulars.Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Hobigůir are light Irish cavalrymen. Good at chasing runners and flanking enemy formations, these warriors are disloyal as they are often are hired as mercenaries. Unit description (Large): Hobigůir (Hobilars) are light cavalry of Ireland. In several accounts, it was from Ireland that the hobilars originated from. When the Normans invaded Ireland, England realized their effectiveness, exported Irish horses, and formed their own hobilars. Sturdy horsemen, the Hobigůir use their mounts to flank and pursue enemies in difficult terrain.

CliarthairiCategory: Regulars.Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Cliarthairi are professional Irish retinue serving a “Bňhaire” or household nobles. Armed with a spear and large shield, these men are good at holding the line.Unit description (Large): Cliarthairi, meaning "guard" or "trooper", are the professional retinue formed in Ireland. Often employed by a "Bňaire" (an Irish noble), the Cliarthairi are very disciplined compared to their Fellow Kerns and are experts in the use of the spear. As is typical of most Irish warriors, the Cliarthairi are lightly armoured, but may still have protection in the form of a leather jerkin or similar armour. In later periods, some of them used a mail haubergon for sturdier protection.

Ceithernn TigheCategory: Warrior Levies.Unit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): The strongest Kerns in the "Rising Sun" Gaelic army. Slightly better equipped than their counterparts and quite impetuous, the Ceithernn Tighe are excellent light infantry.Unit description (Large): The Ceithernn Tighe translates to "Retinue Warband" in Gaelic. Having a criminal reputation, the Kerns frequently pillage and steal livestock from their neighbors. These men frequently serve household Boaěre (meaning "Cow Lord") or act as mercenaries, and as such the Ceithernn have a very wild attitude and little loyalty. Slightly better equipped than their counterparts but still lightly armed in order to be agile, the Tighe make excellent infantry.

Ceithernn CongbhalaCategory: Warrior Levies.Unit Quality: Superior.Unit Description (Small): Ceithernn Congbhala are the excellent skirmishers.They use their javelins with deadly precision.Unit description (Large): "Congbhala", meaning "retained", are Irish warbands trained in the use of the javelin. Every Irishmen was trained in the use of throwing weapons, but the Congbhala have honed their skills to the point where they can pierce heavy armour with deadly precision. Using skirmish and ambush tactics, these men can prove a serious threat to an unprepared enemy.

Ceithernn Coille Category: Warrior Levies.Unit Quality: Standard.Unit Description (Small): Ceithernn Coille are Irish archers. While they are poorly trained, they can still provide decent support to the Kerns.Unit description (Large): Ceithernn Coille, or Woodmen, are Irishmen who often act as highwaymen, robbing travellers and stealing livestock. Ireland wasn't famed for their archers with good reason; Gaelic traditions and the lack on foreign invaders prevented the establishment of well trained archers in Ireland. Still, the Irish did not underestimate the effectiveness of the bow, as some Kerns even equipped themselves with a hunting bow. As skirmishers, the Coille are most effective when ambushing their enemies in as close of range as possible.

The Welsh rightly claim to be the original inhabitants of Britain, having lived there before the Normans, the Norse, the Saxons, the Scots, and the Romans ever invaded their soil. Long ago they were forced into the west by the Saxon invaders who called them Waelisc, Welsh, their word for foreigners. Settling into the mountains and vales of this land now called Wales, they became a notoriously fierce people. They were divided into many kingdoms cut off from England by the River Severn and by Offa's Dyke, which was built to ward off Welsh raiders. From this position the English were content to play the various Welsh princes against each other, but this is no longer the case.

The strongest of the Welsh kingdoms has always been Gwynedd, situated in the mountainous north. In 1200, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, also known as Llywelyn the Great, gained control over the entire kingdom. Seeking to end the English dominion over his land, he sought to reform the laws of Wales that pitted its people against each other. He also became a major player in English politics, marrying the illegitimate daughter of King John, Joan. By playing the English lords against one another, shrewd political manoeuvring, and great exploits in battle, Llywelyn ultimately succeeded in making the House of Aberffraw the rulers of most of Wales. Breaking with Welsh tradition, which was to divide the inheritance equally between all sons, Llywelyn followed the English tradition and left his kingdom to his heir, Dafydd.

After Llywelyn’s death in 1240, Dafydd became the Prince of Gwynedd, but this position was fiercely contested by Llywelyn's oldest son, Gruffydd. Although supported by his father's advisor's and magnates, and despite being a capable man himself, Dafydd was quickly beset by internal dissent and English invasion in 1241 by King Henry III. Dafydd was beaten, and lost many cantrefs, provinces, and his vassals had to pledge their allegiance to Henry III. Gruffydd was to be installed as a ruler, but he and his son Owain remained in captivity in the Tower of London. Gruffydd planned to escape in 1244 using a rope made of bed sheets, but having gained weight in his confinement, the sheets snapped and Gruffydd fell to his death. This left Dafydd as the uncontested ruler of Gwynedd. Although Gruffydd's oldest son Owain was released from captivity and continued to oppose his uncle, Owain's brother Llywelyn became a major supporter of Dafydd and the clear heir to the throne, as Dafydd was sickly and had no legitimate heirs. Together in 1245, they rebelled against England once more and reclaimed much of their lost land, and are now in a position to fight for Llywelyn the Great’s Principality of Wales, and possibly beyond.

The Welsh are neither professional nor disciplined troops. What they are, however, are feudal warriors trained for war on a regular basis. They are inured to hardship by the training each boy of the warrior class must endure: running up mountains, lifting heavy rocks, and of course practicing with their favourite weapons, the spear and the bow. The men of the north are famed for their skilled use of the spear, especially in Meirionnydd, while the men of the south, Gwent in particular, are famed for their skill in archery. Together, the Welsh of both north and south are spearmen and bowmen without equal. Despite being from a land poor in metal and producing sub par equipment, the Welsh are considered to be very fierce. At the sound of their war horn, the herdsmen of Wales drop their plows, pick up their spears, and fight like bears. They leave the fields as quickly as a courier from court, swarming from the hills like angry bees protecting their hive. Such is the style of warfare practiced by the men of Wales: quick, hard ambushes that vanish as quickly as they appeared. It is with men and tactics such as these that the heirs of Owain, Gwynedd, and Llywelyn the Great are to reclaim what was once theirs.

TeuluCategory: Sergeants-at-ArmsUnit Description (short): The retainers of Welsh lords, these noble men are ready to defend their lord at all costs.Unit Description (long): The Teulu are the bodyguards of any Welsh lord, fiercely loyal unto death. They are drawn from the most trustworthy, skilled knights and warriors. These men are expected to die in their lord’s stead if need be, which is why they are called his Teulu, or family. Mounted atop fine horses and clad in scarlet, these men are the core of any Welsh army.

MarchogionCategory: Household NoblesUnit Quality: StandardUnit Description (short): Marchogion are the equivalent of knights in Wales. Heavily armoured men descending from the Welsh aristocracy, they valiantly charge into the enemy ranks.Unit Description (long): Marchog is the Welsh word for knight, and, like knights, they are drawn from the warrior aristocracy of Wales. Each marchog makes a vow to their lord, whether it be a prince or an uchelwyr (a landholder). Keeping up with the latest European fashions, the marchogion, along with the Teulu, are the best equipped of Welsh troops. They have the best and latest equipment to have reached Wales, though they still sometimes lag behind the arms and armour of England. Their main role is to smash through the enemy ranks in a headlong charge.

Marchogion (Foot)Category: Household NoblesUnit Quality: StandardUnit Description (short): Marchogion are the equivalent of knights in Wales. When commanded they will dismount and fight on foot.Unit Description (long): Marchog is the Welsh word for knight, and, like knights, they are drawn from the warrior aristocracy of Wales. Each marchog makes a vow to their lord, whether it be a prince or an uchelwyr (a landholder). Keeping up with the latest European fashions, the marchogion, along with the Teulu, are the best equipped of Welsh troops. They have the best and latest equipment to have reached Wales, though they still sometimes lag behind the arms and armour of England. They do not find it dishonourable to fight on foot, and will do so when commanded.

DaryanogionCategory: SergeantsUnit Quality: StandardUnit Description (short): Daryanogion are heavy cavalry who perform a function similar to knights, but are less heavily armoured.Unit Description (long): Serving as squires or attendants to the marchogion, daryanog means shield bearer. These men follow the marchogion into combat on horseback and fight in a similar manner, despite having less armor and not being quite as experienced. They are used both to supplement the marchogion and in tandem with them.

YnfydionCategory: SergeantsUnit Quality: StandardUnit Description (short): Ynfydion are landless, restless men of the warrior class, and are reckless but fierce shock troopers.Unit Description (long): Ynfydion means “hotheads”, the name given to them for their futile rebellion against Henry I in 1110. The name stuck as it also described their reckless nature and their societal status. Breaking the old feudal traditions of Wales, they are young men of the aristocratic warrior class who do not own land nor are they bound to a lord. Instead, they are fiercely patriotic to their homes and fight for whoever’s cause is more just, or for whoever’s pockets are deeper. As the army of Wales becomes more nationalistic, these men begin to play a more significant role. They are used as heavy infantry in tandem with the knights, but are less disciplined, as they love to fight and to raid.

RhingyllaidCategory: RegularsUnit Quality: StandardUnit Description (short): The Rhingyllaid are the professional spearmen of Welsh armies, forming the core of any battle line and providing a stalwart barrier against their enemies.Unit Description (long): Rhingyll means “sergeant” in Welsh, and as such they are their most professional soldiery. Bound in service as officers to a lord, they are well disciplined, serve in campaigning armies, and guard the Welsh palaces and courts. As is required by law, each Rhingyll is supplied with a spear six feet in length, mail and shields. Combined with their training and experience, they make solid opponents.

SaethwyrCategory: RegularsUnit Quality: ExceptionalUnit Description (short): Saethwyr are the most famous of Welsh archers, whose skill with the longbow is rightly feared.Unit Description (long): Saethwyr are drawn from the masses of Welsh freemen. They are generally trained from a young age, are used to hardship, and are familiar with the rugged terrain of their land. Their experience at fighting makes them popular soldiers in both native and foreign armies. They have no equal with their skill with the longbow, and are lightly armoured so they can move fast over rough ground and evade their opponents.

RhyfelwyrCategory: Warrior LeviesUnit Quality: SuperiorUnit Description (short): Rhyfelwyr are the main warriors of the Welsh, who can both throw javelins and stand in a spear-wall formation.Unit Description (long): Rhyfelwyr, meaning ‘warrior’ in Welsh, have been the backbone of any Welsh force since the foundation of Wales. The bog-standard soldier of the mountains, they are armed with a round shield, some light armor, a clutch of javelins, and a thrusting spear. They are quite skilled and versatile warriors, being able to act as skirmishers, raiders, or even fight as part of a shield-wall. Rhywelwyr are drawn from the masses of the Welsh freemen. They are generally trained from a young age, are used to hardship, and are familiar with the rugged terrain of their land. They are the men who started battles, ambushing their enemies with loud cries as they shower them with spears before closing in and pulling back, following Briton tradition.

OreuguyrCategory: Warrior LeviesUnit Quality: SuperiorUnit Description (short): Oreuguyr are fierce Welsh warriors in the service of minor landholders.Unit Description (long): Oreuguyr means “Foremost Men”, as they are a select levy raised by the landholders (called uchelwyr). Lightly armed and armoured, they serve as both raiders and as retainers to the minor nobles, serving at their call when they have need of them. Oreuguyr were drawn from the masses of the Welsh freemen. They are generally trained from a young age, are used to hardship, and are familiar with the rugged terrain of their land.

HelwyrCategory: Warrior LeviesUnit Quality: SuperiorUnit Description (short): Helwyr are hunters skilled in the use of the longbow, who are called to serve during emergencies.Unit Description (long): Helwyr, meaning “hunters”, are men who spend their lives foraging for food to feed their families. Helwyr are drawn from the masses of the Welsh freemen. They are generally trained from a young age, are used to hardship, and are familiar with the rugged terrain of their land. As the Welsh are a pastoral people, there are many men such as these who use their longbows to hunt. They bring these tactics to the battlefield, serving as guerrillas who shoot their enemies at close range, where they can be more accurate and deadly.

Ceffyl GwerinCategory: Warrior LeviesUnit Quality: StandardUnit Description (short): Ceffyl Gwerin are Welsh light cavalry, used for skirmishing and running down light infantry.Unit Description (long): The Ceffyl Gwerin are warriors who are rich enough to own a horse, but are still excluded from the nobility. They ride smaller horses used to rough ground, throw javelins at their foes to harass them, and can skewer runners with their spears. Though tenacious fighters, they cannot be expected to survive a prolonged melee.

GweriCategory: Feudal LeviesUnit Quality: StandardUnit Description (short): Gweri are billmen, called to fight during emergencies.Unit Description (long): For most of Welsh history, its people were highly rural, possessing few castles and cities prior to the reign of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth. As such, most Welsh warriors were drawn from a class of freemen, both nobles, farmers, and shepherds alike, who all had experience and training. But as Wales grew, so too did its enemies, forcing the Welsh to draw more soldiers from the lower classes. Gweri are just that: militiamen who that can join the fight. That being said, they are still simple farmers or townsfolk and are not a part of the warrior class. With little to no armor, they go into battle with long bills to fight as impromptu pikemen. They shouldn’t be heavily relied upon, as they are called into battle during emergencies.

What mod would be complete without an altered unit models? The WotW team is ensuring that every unit is unique, and that none of the models are similar to the vanilla unit models. Some of the excellent work that the modellers have already done can be seen below:

A First Look at the Units of the War of the West

Stormenn

Brabancons

Dismounted English Knights

English Infantry

Scottish Pikemen

Mandrent Bondsman

Dismounted English Baron-Knights

Scottisn Men-At-Arms

Scottish Highlanders

The Building system has been entirely rebuilt from the ground up.

Cities and castles have been merged, making for a single settlement type. This will be the case in both the overmap and the battlemap, hopfully making sieges more fun and challenging.

Settlements can now be built along one of three paths: Rural, Urban, and Military. These paths unlock certain buildings, and prevent a settlement from producing others. You now have to take your settlements position and resources into account, and building spamming is no longer an option.

There are now unique buildings for specific settlements, based on historical buildings.

Unique economic buildings have been added that take advantage of every resource on the map.

Buildings now have upkeep.

Buildings have an increased time of production and cost.

There is a new Building UI

There are over 60 unique building trees (and they will continue to increase).

Buildings are now dependant on a regions culture. Religion has been replaced with culture.

Recruitment has also been changed fundamentally from the vanilla version of Medieval 2: Total War.

Recruitment pools and replenishment rates have been significantly lowered, in an attempt to force the player to utilize all of his settlements in the production of armies. This will add further historical accuracy, as medieval armies were conscripted from various parts of their individual kingdoms, regardless of what arms and armor those areas produced. These changes will be based on the Real Recruitment mod by Point Blank.

Limitation has also been placed on particular units, forcing the game to display historically accurate units at appropriate times.Now you won't have aries in plate prior to the invention of the full plate suit.

The timeframe has been changed (and building/recruitment times changed in accordance) to a 4 turns per year system.

The Mercenary system hs been completely redone. Now mercenaries can only be recruited from military and economic setttlements (with economic settlements receiving a wider variety, as was true in history. Alliance Mercenaries (you heard right) can now also be recruited. All factions have a unique unit, and by allying with a faction, you can recruit their unique unit along with other mercenary units. This should force players to pick their friends and enemies with care!

Factions have additional strengths and weaknesses that are reflected in their unit pools.

Siege weapons have been made more expensive, and artillery units will contain more men and weapons.

The General's Bodyguard unit will now have upkeep.

Pictures of Building and Recruitment Changes

The Tower of London unique building. Guess which city get's it.

The Mercenary Barracks

A display of recruitment changes.

Single settlement type.

Resource buildings

Unique settlement trees.

Other changes include an education system, permanent forts, and more deadly plagues.

Education System

Schools!

As you can see, the changes are extensive. The WotW team have been devoting hundreds of hours to create a brand new mod for the TW community. So check the mod out in all of it's glory and give credit where credit is due here!

Paeninsula Italica II 0.96 Release by The Dutch Devil

Paeninsula Italica II 0.96 Release by The Dutch Devil

Working on mods requires a great deal of patience, and by the looks of it the team behind Paeninsula Italica II has endless amounts of patience. Paeninsula Italica II is a modification that tries to portrays Italy from the late fourth century BC up until the Punic Wars. Their 0.96 version introduces new things, for one it adds new buildings images, new campaign map models and they added rivers and roads to their beautiful campaign map.

The goal of Paeninsula Italica II is to portray ancient Italy from the fourth century and onward, because of that only the Greek factions have catapults and siege towers. This of course is a small sacrifice of balance, but it's a major gain in historical accuracy. Instead of using siege engines to batter down the walls your brave soldiers will have to use blood sweat and steel to conquer the walls. Forcing you as supreme ruler to deal with bloody sieges, instead of the easier siege engine supported sieges.

Another aspect are the dozens of historical messages that offer small tidbits of information on the evolution of your empire. With those messages you'll really feel connected to the making of your own empire. You will, for instance, get notifications about the construction of several roads, but sadly some of them offer no interaction as in trade or movement bonuses.

This mod is really one of the mods that strives to pursue historical accuracy as much as possible, and because of that the campaign feels like it has an extra dimension added to it. Since this mod is just at version 0.96 it still has a long way to go, with many exciting and enticing updates still to go.

Written by The Dutch Devil

Gallery

New generic UI's for TATW2.1 by MasterBigAb

New generic UI's for TATW2.1

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

A famous quote you all certainly know...
What I am talking about ?! - Of course the Lord of the Rings modification "Third Age - Total War" for Medieval II Kingdoms.
Or to be more precise, this time, it is about a submod of the said mod.
Not only any submod, but one of the most known and successefull ones:

A.I. has always been one of the major aspects of the Total War series.
Many members were not satisfied with the artificial intelligence especially older
engines of the series provided.

But the Total War Center, with all it's great members and modders
is of course able to present some specialist for modding the A.I.
This specialist, very well known for his great A.I. work on the Medieval II engine
is no-one less than the famous Germanicu5.

A wonderful little mod that overhauls MTW2 completely, Sands of Conquest brings us to the fictional island of Lurija and it's surroundings, loosely based on a fictional Australia + Australasia.

The mod features everything you would expect from a total overhaul :

Ten completely new factions

A new map that has +160 settlements

New Music

New Artwork

Etc

And here's a little teaser gallery(can be found also on the mod's page)

Gallery

(big pics)

For the rest, I'll leave you to explore.
The mod's official thread can be found here : http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=453209

- SonOfOdin

East of Rome Preview by SonOfOdin

East of Rome Preview

East of Rome is a promising in-progress mod that spans from the times of the Emperor Justinian down to the 8th Century. True to it's name, it it focused on what happened to the East of Rome, that is the Roman Empire fighting against countless tribes and kingdoms from the Huns to the North to the Sasanians to the East, however the Western featuring tribes such as the Vandals and Franks is still given some attention.

The mod developers have produced a lovely preview done completely with pictures for the public to admire, and so here is a gallery with it's main features for it :

Gallery - East of Rome Preview

Also, the team have made a fantastic video preview for the mod.

For more information on the mod, and any questions, visit the mod's official hub here : http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=755

Q1: Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from? What are your interests?

Foot : Hello, MorganH. First, may i say, thank you very much for having me.

My name is Matt (reward for the person who can figure out how that is related to my user-name Foot ) and I was born and raised in the city of Brighton in the UK, where i now live and work. In real life i work for Disney, supporting their online gaming customer base, which basically involves writing a lot of emails and the occasional phone. I also design and build websites, which doesn't pay at the moment, but I'm hoping that it will in the future.

Outside of that i also read philosophy (which i studied for seven years, from school through to University), and I'm also a keen cyclist. I particularly enjoy cycle touring, and that all began with my largely unprepared cycle tour to Barcelona and back from the UK, which was over 3000 miles in just under 10 weeks.

Q2: Before the arrival of TW games, how did you express your love for (Ancient) history? Was it through other games, wargaming, model building etc ?

I studied history in both secondary school and then in sixth form college, but topics for those four years focused on English and American history from the early modern history. In particular i studied the English Civil War extensively and still hold the radicals of the New Model Army to be some of the most interesting figures in history (and I'm surprised that CA have never devoted a game or add-on to that period).

My study and knowledge of ancient history never really began until I joined EB, and it was only really sparked due to my study of philosophy (which of course dealt extensively with Plato and Aristotle, and later the practice of philosophy and theology in Medieval Europe).

However I do fondly remember one book that i must have read several dozen times as a kid, which dealt exclusively with the Greeks. It was from the Horrible Histories series of books and was called the Groovy Greeks. It was a lot of fun, and certainly my favourite book about history when growing up. I enjoyed it so much that for a school project when i was about 10, me and my dad made a fibre-glass model of a bronze Corinthian helmet, which i kept for a long time afterward (until it eventually broke apart).

Q3: How did you get into Total War games? How did you end up modding on TWC?

My first contact with the Total War series was with Medieval TW, which I picked for Ł10 second-hand. Previously to that i had only really played Age of Empire style strategy games, and Medieval TW came as welcome steel-toed boot kick to the frontal lobe. Quite apart from the gorgeous campaign map (which is still my favourite of the series - though Shogun II does come in a close second), i had never seen such epic battles before in my life. It truly was a game that ruined all other strategy games for me until Relic came along with Dawn of War and Company of Heroes.

After Medieval TW I lost interest in strategy games and didn't return until i read an excellent article in PC Gamer UK, which was all about playing just the campaign of Medieval TW, and just auto-resolving the battles. Focusing on the campaign like this really trained the game and i was able enjoy Medieval TW all over again.

My first inkling that there were even mods for Total War games came just before Rome TW was released in 2004. I was looking for information on Rome, itself, and in my search came across the Medieval TW mod MTW XL here at the TWC forums. However I didn't download it at the time as I didnt have Medieval TW installed at the time.

After I completed Rome TW (which I did enjoy at the time, and was floored by the beauty of the battles) I decided to reinstall Medieval TW and check out the mods that were available. It was the MTW XL that opened my eyes to the possibilities of the Total War franchise, and particularly what can be done to improve and promote historical accuracy.

After playing that mod, it was impossible to go back to a game that didn't include AOR and more complex campaign game-play. For that reason I began looking for mods for Rome TW that could satisfy. I first came across RTR (5.4, if i remember correctly), but there were so many different versions and sub-mods, and I never enjoyed much luck getting it to work (I was not particularly savvy with the technical side of modding, so no doubt I made it harder for myself than it really should have been).

Q4: Before we get into the EB II Mod specifically, it's a known fact i believe that the EB Mod's main base is the TW.org site. Whats the story behind that?

That's right, we have our main forums over there, including our development forums, which the org team are kind enough to host for us - at over 200,000 posts in almost 6,000 threads, there is a lot of work that they look after for us.

When Europa Barbarorum first began it was just a group of like-minded lovers of ancient history, who had come together to collect information that they hoped would persuade Creative Assembly that the "barbarian" factions in Rome TW deserved better representation than initial previews suggested they were. Most of the core members of this open discussion group (and you must remember that in the beginning this was not going to be a mod) were more active on the org than on the TWC, and so that's where the conversation first started. By the time Europa Barbarorum was formed as a modding team, its members were all members of the org, and so that became the natural home for development forums.

As far as our public forums are concerned, we maintain active forums at both the org and the TWC. Most of our members have accounts with both communities (especially those that are active publicly) and we make sure that both communities get all the information and help they might for both our mods. I make a habit of visiting both equally and frequently.

Q5: How exactly did you team up with the EB II Mod. Were you also involved in the original EB for RTW ?

After discovering mods for RTW, it was Europa Barbarorum that caught my eye, even though there was no public release at that time, and for one very simple (and very pretentious) reason, which was that I was studying Latin at University, and it interested me that there was a mod that used that self-same language for its title.

So i waited and haunted the forums for sometime until there was finally a release (the 0.7x months). I played the mod and absolutely loved it. Two particular campaigns stood out for me. The first was an Epeirote campaign that saw me lose Pyrrhos and his son Ptolemaios in two fiercely fought battles, both of which were won by unit of phalangitai that stood their ground when all around them had lost their nerve - in a beautiful piece of narrative, the captain of that unit was promoted to a general in the very next turn. The second was defining in a different way, as it got me interested in working with the EB Team, and that campaign was the Hayasdan campaign.

After the release of EB 0.74, which was the last version on Rome TW 1.2, one of the EB Team posted a request for help for the Hayasdan faction, and were looking for people to write building descriptions for them. I adored the Hayasdan faction, and hated to see them so neglected, and so i began writing building descriptions for them, and researching their history in the University Library. I never intended to join the team, but when I was asked to, I leapt at the chance.

I joined the team without a clue at how a modding team worked and was chucked into the deep-end immediately. As the only person able to work on Hayasdan I was immediately made faction coordinator for them, which is a position that comes with a hefty amount of responsibility as all decisions about a faction are the decision of the FC. I was immediately asked to comment on approve unit concepts and other things, and i was way out of my depth. Thankfully everyone was very supportive, particularly Angadil - whose knowledge of the east was unsurpassed - and Artavazd - whose knowledge of the language was invaluable.

In the beginning I was concerned only with acting as historian for the Hayasdan faxtion, but at some point I made the fateful decision of volunteering to maintain the internal build (which at the time was maintained by a single person, who collected all the work from different people and the integrated it into there local copy). There is no finer way of learning the data files for a game than having to maintain a build in this way as you have to touch and understand every file, and when you introduce a bug into the build you have to know how to fix it. Thankfully we know use versioning software to maintain the build, but that time was invaluable to me.

As we worked toward releasing 1.0 i became more and more involved with the game mechanics of Europa Barbarorum (which led me to develop the reforms for Hayasdan), and in administrative side of the team as well. That meant that when it came time to begin working on a version of Europa Barbarorum for Medieval 2 TW, I felt confident that i could act as mod-leader for the team.

Q6: For all those who do not know anything about EB II(or EB I), can you explain what the differences will be between them? We would very much like to hear everything you want to disclose about Factions, scripts, provinces, new structures etc.

Now that is a question and a half! Where to start?

Europa Barbarorum started as a project to change how history was represented in total war games. We wanted to show people that not only was a finer appreciation of history as fun as the watered down version in Rome TW, but that it could inspire new and exciting game-play - and so we saw EBIs Governments and our extensive trait system.

In EBI, however, it was not our goal to change how Total War games were played, and though changes were made, these were piecemeal and not wholly complete. You may notice that alongside our Government buildings, we also had plain old vanilla-style temples (which, while having some quite excellent descriptions, offered bonuses that were wildly exaggerated); that alongside our advanced AOR system, our recruitment was still based around vanilla-style barracks (even if we did try to expand their remit to include all military industries into one building). These areas of the mod were never fully explored because they were never part of our plan - with EBII they are.

One of my problems with the Total War franchise is its lack of a consistent viewpoint for the player, and my favourite example of this is the Farm building in the Total War games - what is it trying to represent. The scope and scale of the gameplay suggests that it might refer to control of land in general, but the building description and name all suggest that it refers to the construction of actual farms. That is ridiculous, not least because the plausibility of suitably arable land, populated by a sedentary people, not being turned over to farming already is preposterous - you don’t need a king to decide when and where new farms are going to be established. Another example is that of the Blacksmith: again the description and name of the building suggests that, contrary to all reason, the player-as-king is somehow getting involved with the nitty-gritty of establishing a new blacksmithing enterprise. However, contrary to this perception, the Blacksmith actually has an affect that could not be the result of a single building, as it can equip entire armies with new armour and weapons.

In Europa Barbarorum II we want to deal with this issue head on, and for that reason we are developing different types of buildings, that maintain a consistent scope in their description and affect. You will still be able to build single buildings, known as Civic Buildings, which will represent Palaces, Theatres, Royal Stables, Temples, and other such awesome buildings commissioned by the Governor of that settlement. These Civic buildings will affect the acquisition of traits and ancillaries (for example, if you build a Temple, you will be more example to get traits and ancillaries for generals in that settlement relating to religion). These buildings will be limited in number for each settlement, and will be prohibitively expensive, so that you will be able to create unique identities for your settlements.

Following from this, the main building type with be the Infrastructure Buildings. These will represent the control and manipulation of industries and means of production that impact the economic assets of the province. These Infrastructure Buildings will cover a number of concepts, not simply the presence of a particular building, but the control of land, the appropriation of trade networks and storage for the benefit of the controlling faction. The Farm Infrastructure building, for example, will represent the control of food production and trade, and even the ownership of land. The latter is of particular interest as this also becomes a political tool, and can be used by the player to introduce foreign nobility and colonists into a province, altering recruitment and administrative options for that faction, but at a cost.

This clearer distinction between building types, which will also include the Populace and Authority building types, will, we hope, produce a clearer and more accurate campaign than EBI. Each building type has its own demarcated zones of influence: Populace buildings affect recruitment options, while Authority buildings represent government options, affecting Public Order. There will be cross-over between all four building types, but these more complex interactions can be ignored by the player should they not wish to be bogged down in the minutiae of the campaign.

As you can see, even just one of our responses to the vanilla campaign in the Total War campaigns is quite a hefty answer in and of itself. We are truly creating a total modification, where each area of the campaign and battles are being looked at and revised to ensure that we produce a consistent, engaging, historically accurate and enjoyable experience.

Q7: What exactly will the time-frame be for EB II? Will there be any early Roman Imperial legions in the Mod ?

Europa Barbarorum II will have the same start date as Europa Barbarorum, and so you should expect to see very similar starting positions for those factions that appeared in that mod. We have however revisited our research on every faction, and so I don't think there is one that does not have some small but important change to how they are represented in 272BC.

Our end date has not been changed either, however that is because a final decision has not yet been decided. Interestingly enough, the end date for our campaign will likely depend on whether we have room to include Imperial Legionaries and the Augustan reforms. If we do then the end date will likely stay the same 14AD, but if we don't then we will probably end the campaign slightly earlier. At the moment we are focusing on the first third of our campaign and making sure that every faction and province are equally well represented in beginning. After our first release we will turn our attention to the later periods of our campaign.

Q8: Will EB II use a traditional music soundtrack like in EB, and/or will there be a newly composed soundtrack by team members or other musicians?

EBII will use the same soundtrack that appeared in EBI, including the fantastic music especially composed and produced by Morgan Casey and Nick Wylie. We will also be using the original work of Prehistoric Music Ireland, who are making ground-breaking work in the reproduction of ancient music.

There are no solid plans to expand this catalog of music for our soundtrack, but we would certainly enjoy working with other composers and musicians who were looking to work with our historians to explore the music of the ancient world.

Q9: The EB II team must be a very massive team. How many people are working in it and how exactly does your role as Mod leader work?

As with all mod teams our team contracts and expands with the seasons, and while we count over 60 members on our team currently, the active number is certainly a little less than that, at around 30. The largest group on our team is probably our historians, but many of them also delve into that dark of modding the game directly.

My particular role on the team as Mod Leader, is to ensure the smooth running of the team. Sometimes disputes can arise that need to be arbitrated by someone else to ensure that hot tempers don’t ruin working relationships. I also act as the public face of the EB team, though many of our team members enjoy and actively participate on the forums. My modding work is focused on the campaign game, and that is the area that I lead and develop with others on the team. My main focus is on buildings, but I’ve also developed scripting and trait mechanics to support the building work.

Q10: The historical research of the EB mod is very impressive. Besides team members doing research, are you guys also receiving help from secondary sources like universities, museums, etc? Professionals so to speak.

Some of our team members are indeed professionals who active academically (one of whom is even now out on the field). We have also corresponded with professional academics, who are not active in the Total War community, but who have kindly given us their time and their expertise. Most notably, perhaps, is our work with Professor David Mattingly who is one of the few experts studying the history of the Garamantes, a North African tribe, who we worked closely with to create the beautiful Garamantes warriors (lovingly drawn on paper by Nate and appearing in both EBI and EBII). He was very pleased to see the people he has studied on paper for so long be recreated both on paper and in a video game. We hope that a) we have done them and his work justice, and b) that our fans have been able learn about this all but forgotten culture.

Its amazing to be singled out in that way and have our work praised so by the Creative Assembly team. Its an incredible feeling and really boosted morale in the team. We love it when our work is enjoyed by anyone, and when a someone posts praise on our forums (or elsewhere) we gather round it like moths around a flame (quick note to fans of any mod: if you like it do post about your experiences, even the smallest post is incredibly rewarding). There was something particular rewarding about Craig's comment, though, and that is that the EB Team originally formed to be heard by Creative Assembly, and to have that confirmed was something wonderful.

We have not had any direct contact with anyone from CA, and we wouldn't want to be specially treated by them in anyway. If CA can give any feedback or advice about the game engine, then we hope that this would be public for everyone in the modding community to benefit from (and that is something that I'm really glad to see happening in the TWC forums). If anyone from the CA team did wish to provide any feedback about how Europa Barbarorum I plays, and what they enjoyed and did not enjoy about it, then we would love to hear from them, just as we love to hear from our fans about how we can improve our mod.

Q12: Will there be a public 'beta release' to iron out bugs and inconsistencies?

Yes, we will have public betas. Our experience with Europa Barbarorum is that feedback from our fans is very important, and this is doubly so given that we will also be able to mess around with the Campaign and Battle Ai’s (I dont capitalise the "i" in Ai for obvious reasons) and the more campaigns we can record and the more experiences we can draw upon, the more accurate and balanced we can make those areas of the game.

We are planning several releases of the game, each one focusing on different components of the game. The first release will include some 150 units, drawing mainly from those that we expect to see at the beginning of the campaign, while the campaign itself will include an entirely new economic system and government system. Later releases will see an overhaul of the traits and ancillaries, designed specifically for EBII and an compelling take on population growth that will allow for a form of economic warfare to be waged across the map.

Q13: Are there any plans to release or develop any Sub mods covering specific regional campaigns during or after EB II is released?

Our entire effort is focused on the main campaign, and there are no plans to develop provincial campaigns. However the Medieval 2 TW engine does support provincial campaigns very well and we hope that our fans will take the opportunity to use our mod as a stepping stone for creating more focused campaigns.

We are using the provincial campaigns internally to develop testing areas, where we can focus on a small number of factions, so that we can make changes over 4-5 factions instead of 30. We may release these maps with the main campaign to provide a few different areas to play in, but they wont be anything more than a chopped up version of the main campaign.

Q14: Besides the involvement in EB II,what other TW Mods are you loving, playing or maybe participating in?

Europa Barbarorum really does take up all of my time, and so I am not involved in any other mods. I'm not playing it currently, but I’ve really enjoyed FOE and I love the focus that the RTR team have brought to the game. I prefer the shorter, focused campaigns and i rarely play past 150 years in the main EB campaign.

I haven't played many Medieval 2 TW mods as my copy of Medieval 2 is entirely turned over to modding and not particularly stable enough for anything else. I did play For King or Country for a short time, as it deals with the English Civil War, a period that I’m very interested in. I also enjoyed Broken Crescent, as it was really nice to Armenia being given the attention they deserve. Their history during the period in the 5th Century onwards is really interesting, and it’s great to see their odd situation being portrayed as nicely as BC did in their mod.

Q15: If it was entirely up to you, what particular period or specific military campaign in history would you like to see covered through a TW Mod?

I think I've already mentioned this,but I would love to see Creative Assembly make a great game about the English Civil War that really focused on the religious and political radicalism of the time. In the meantime, the fantastic mod For King or Country has proven to be an enjoyable attempt to bring that period to the game. I would really like to see that period recreated in a more advanced engine, and using the government mechanics that were featured in Empire TW.

Q16 Do you play any of the new TW games like Empire up to Shogun2 ,and how do you see them in the light of the decreased Modding possibilities?

I bought both Empire and Napoleon. I was very disappointed by Empire, and while some of the campaign map developments were fantastic, the battle-map was a huge disappointment, particularly the Ai. I was very frustrated with how the game dealt with melee units (a rarity, admittedly), and often found myself watching as Native American units ran backwards and forwards in front of my muskets. I was, however, very impressed with Napoleon,and I much preferred the focused campaigns in that game. But I'm not really a fan of the Napoleonic period (unless it involves Sean Bean) and after completing the game I haven't returned to it.

I was very impressed by the Shogun 2 game, and i think it is the most polished of the franchise. The campaign map is beautiful, and the developments there make for a very engaging game. I havent yet purchased the game however, as Japan is not an area of history that i am particularly interested in, and i have had other games on my must-play list. However, i look forward to picking it up later on this year when ive played through those games that are sitting at the top of my list.

It is a terrible shame that both Empire, Napoleon and Shogun2 do not appear to have been developed with support of the modding community at its core, instead of that support being a promise added at the end. I understand that changes, in particular to the campaign map, has meant that modifying the engine is far more complicated than it was in the RTW/M2TW days. It is a shame, however, that, as part of the development cycle for the engine itself, that in-house tools were not also developed that could later have been released to the community. I know that I, at least, would have been far more interested in picking up a copy of Shogun immediately following its release if there was a release of modding tools at the same time. As it is, there is no real incentive for me to pick up the game at time of release.

Q17: What would you ,and the team, expect from a highly anticipated new Rome 2 TW game?

The ancient world is an interesting time, as it is the one point in history so far shown in the TW series that realy shows the clash of violently different cultures and people at war for survival and supremacy. I would really like Rome 2 TW to really focus on the differences between the different cultural groups and how they lived their lives, and what values they brought to the table. I dont want to romanticise the Celtic people, but i do want CA to show the player just how different they were to the cities of the mediterranean. That is something we want to show in EBII, and we hope that it is something that CA would wish to emulate in their own work. I personally feel that it is of great importance to tell the story of that time from all the different sides equally, and that can only be done if each faction is given their own voice.

Q18: Of course I cannot trick you in saying anything about the release date of EB II right ?

Would that you could,but the truth is that we dont know ourselves.We have a plan of what the first release will look like,but we are not yet at a position to say when that will happen.

Q19: Have you got anything to add to this interview ?

Just that im incredibly grateful for your time and the opportunity to speak about myself and about the Europa Barbarorum II mod. From all the team,a big thank you.

MorganH.:You are welcome,and thankyou very much for your time and the indepth answers you provided. Good luck for all the team on the further development,and very much looking forward to the release.

This Sub-Mod, specially developed for the RS 2 Sparta one turn campaign, will provide the player with 11 playable unitsranging from Spartans to Macedonians wearing Corinthian helmets as a fictional and optional download for the community to enjoy.

The creator of the B.C Mods, Sonny Costanzo, has released his latest addition to the series:the 280 B.C Mod beta version 0.9

The B.C Mods strive to represent the conflicts and historical events occurring around the Mediterranean,from the campaigns of Alexander all the way up to the Punic wars.

This latest B.C series beta mod will add a range of new factions like the Baktrians and Epirus, and will focus on the historical situation as it was around 280 B.C..

Combined with many new unit models, unit retextures, maps, environments, battlefield formations and much more, this mod will surely satisfy the fans of this specific time frame of around 280 B.C when the Seleucids plan on going to war with the Macedonians and the tensions and conflicts between Rome and Epirus finally erupt into the socalled Phyrric Wars.

For RTW-BI:INVASIO BARBARORVM:RVINA ROMAE presents the preview of the Hephthalites.

The Team of INVASIO BARBARORVM - RVINA ROMAE present their 5th preview; The Hephthalites.

The Hephthalites are better known as the White Huns, cousins of the more western based Black Huns.
The IB RR team went to great lengths to represent this faction in a unique way to ensure that there are now 2 different factions of ''Huns'' represented in the Mod.
In order to capture the ethnic backgrounds of this people in a realistic way,the team developed new portraits,new units,new event images and even a new Hephthalite interface.
To read more about this intriguing Eastern people and the way this mod is going to represent them,view the preview thread right Here

MorganH.

RTW-BI:INVASIO BARBARORVM VLTRA GLORIAM ROMAE Addons

Rio and the team are back with extensive addon for IB: VGR. And when I say extensive, I really mean it. Here is a brief overview of the changes made in this addon:

A revamped economic system

Adjusted textures

Minor bug fixes

Adjusted assimilation

Stat corrections

Emergent faction added (The Bulgars)

Adjusted building trees

New 2D unit and building art

New units

Added an AI money script

New playable faction (The Ostrogoths)

And much, much more.

Seriously, check all the changes that Riothamus so diligently added here. You won't be disappointed!

Ancient Aliens.

For RTW-Alex: Diadochi Total War 1.20

Redfox brings us the latest version of his mod, Diadochi: Total War Version 1.20! As a Diadochi: TW player myself (who wouldn't want to play RTW with RedFox's tier two wooden walls?), I want to highlight the changes that were made in this version specifically.

Real men choose this option.

The most extensive changes were made to the strategy map. Thanks to Suppanaut, the Barbarian and Eastern settlement strat map models were changed, and, compared to the vanilla models, the changes are awesome. This release, Redfox decided to add a channel connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, which will undoubtedly enhance the game for fans of the Ptolemies. In addition to all this, changes have been made to several settlements, with a handful of settlements in Germania being removed and others in various parts of the map being added.

Strategy Map Changes:

The new eastern settlement strategy map model.

Changes were also made to the Unit Roster. 11 new AOR units were added to the game, all with unique textures and sprites. Several unit textures and unit sprites were also changed for aesthetic consistency, including the Spartan Royal Guard, Persian Immortals, and the Basilikon Agema.

Some of the new AOR units:

Eastern Spearmen Archers firing.

Iberian Cavalry charging.

Other miscellaneous fixes and changes include:

A fix to the barbarian music

Drilling Fields were changed to Local Garrisons

Pyrrrhus and Decius Mus engage automatically at the start of the Pyrrhic Wars campaign.

This submod by the very talented Naxzul introduces many new video's into the Roma Surrectum 2 experience and helps to further enhance an already amazing mod. New video's have been included for both the initial prologue when you start the game as well as new intro video's for every faction currently featured in RS2 - the download for these glorious video's can be found in this thread!

-Brittanicus

For RTW;European Wars;Polish-Lithuanian units preview:

Rome TW > European Wars

The "European Wars" is a mod that focuses on bringing the gunpowder era of 18th century europe to the RTW engine (also in development for ETW) and so a lot of new and very beautiful units have had to be made to create it. King Louise Assurbanipal has therefore been hard at work creating a lot of new units for the mod and has recently posted a new preview of the units for the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth.

A lot of new units have been added for this faction and the units that were previously included in the beta have all been re-skinned as well. These units are split into two groups - one of which represents the units used in the early part of the 18th century such as winged hussars whilst the other represents those used towards the end of the century such as grenadiers and hussars. KLA has done a lot of work to ensure that these early era and late era units are noticeably different in terms of the uniforms that they wear and even the soldiers hairstyles and due to this attention to detail he has managed to produce some of the best units that you will see on the RTW engine.

A few of the units included in the preview:

If you want to learn more about the history and military of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth (which includes very detailed descriptions of a lot of the new units) or see the rest of these incredible units in more detail you can find the full length preview in this thread!

-Brittanicus

For RTW: Germania Magna-Unit Pack

Rome TW > Germania Magna - Unit Pack

All too often overhaul mods for RTW see the units of the Germanic faction neglected and in many cases the vanilla roster is kept exactly the same. Davyjones however aims to change this with the release of his Germania Magna unit pack, which includes a lot (not all of them) of the Germanic units that will be featured in the Batavia total war mod. The pack includes several different units such as Germanic Archers and ensures that the fearsome warriors from across the Rhine truly are represented in all their glory, so if you want to use these new units to conquer your enemies you can find the download in this thread!

-Brittanicus

For RTW Alex.: The Eastern Campaign.

Rome TW > Eastern Campaign

The Eastern campaign is a provincial campaign created by Supermoler using the map from the Alexander expansion for RTW. The mod does not take place in the time of Alexander however, but instead focuses on the period just after his death when the wars of succession were being fought all over Asia by the Diadochi. So whether you want to use the wealth of the Nile to re-unite the empire under a Ptolemaic ruler or the vast resources of the Seleucids to bring the other nations under "protection" you can do so by trying out the Eastern campaign here!

The aim of this sub-mod created by Boustrephedon is to create a more immersive Gallic campaign for RS 2.1a by adding a lot of extra traits, retinues and more role playing elements.

One of the biggest additions is the education system for both warriors and governors. The governor education involves sending your general to Cenabum in order to recieve Druidic training and whilst this takes 20 turns to complete you will find yourself with a very good governor at the end of the process who will also get better the more years he governs a city thaks to the addition of a civil service trait. the process works in much the same way for the military education, but with the initial warrior education only taking 8 years and it being carried out in Gergovia; You can then further enhance your general by either keeping him in Gergovia to become an infantry expert or sending him to Drurcortoron in the lands of the Remi to become a cavalry expert (your general can also have both these traits). Your general will then become even better the longer he spends in the field due to the military service trait and may eventually become a rival to the high king.

This sub-mod also adds many other interesting features such as a wealth system for your generals, a vassal king system for the tribes that you rule over as well as many more excellent new traits ancillaries. This is an excellent sub-mod, so if you want a more detailed explanation of the various features you can find it and the download in the opening post of the thread here!

-Brittanicus

For RTW-BI : Hegemonia States v 0.99 beta released

Rome TW > BI > Hegemonia City States

The much anticipated Hegemonia City States is a mod that focuses on the wars of the Hellenic world from the late 6th century to Peloponnesian wars and has this month had its first public release in the form of the 0.99 beta.

One of the biggest reasons that this mod has been so anticipated is the incredible work that the team have done for the cities and buildings used on the battle map. These new buildings are works of art and the team as done such a good job putting the cities together that it creates a very immersive atmosphere whenever you assault an enemy city; This leads to many epic moments in your campaign - such as fighting your way to the top of an enemy acropolis or making a last stand with your few remaining hoplites blocking the last doorway to the city centre. You will probably not see any other RTW mod that has put so much work into the battle map cities as Hegemonia has done and it should definitely be one of the things that any Total War fan should experience.

The battle map cities are not however the only thing that you should be downloading this mod for, as they have also put a lot of work into the many new units and the campaign map. The new units are of excellent quality and there is a vast amount of them as well, so from everybody's favourites like the mighty Athenians, the indomitable Spartans and the unstoppable Persian Empire to the lesser known Boiotian League and Locrians you will be astonished by the huge number of well crafted units that are included in this mod.

A few of the new units:

The campaign map is another amazing piece of work and is one of the best in any total war mod. The map stretches from the Carthaginians in Africa and Etruscans in Italy in the west to the Persian Empire in Asia Minor in the East and includes 20 playable factions. New ground types have also been included on the campaign map as well as new models for the cities, agents, generals and ships, which are of extremely high quality.

The Campaign Map

If you want to download this mod and lead one of the greek cities to domination of the Hellenic world or crush them with the Persian Empire you will find all you need to know and the download in this thread!

This resource is for those among you that are interested in getting Hi-res world maps and "curving " them to get equal-areas projections in order to later implement them as Maps in ones own TW mapping Modification.

Siegfriedfr has released this very interesting resource and provides an easy to follow step by step instruction to get this done.